Legacy
by sparkleofhope
Summary: "So, how much do I get paid?" "Paid to what?" "Paid to live a shitty life again, of course." Her time spent in limbo was beginning to sound like a hostage negotiation gone wrong but this was her second existence they were talking about. There better be lots of money involved! Or Tsunade gets reborn as Sakura and chaos ensues.
1. Chapter 1

_"How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me? " - Leonard Cohen_

* * *

In retrospect, she knew she should have expected something like this to happen. War was ruthless and didn't care who it took or how its effects would weigh down on thousands of people, shinobi and civilians alike. Nobody knew that better than her. Losing Nawaki pushed her to start a revolution in the medical field, made her hope and trust _that_ will somehow be enough to fight death. It hadn't been. Did their success rate increase? Of course. Did corpses stop gracing her eyesight? Never.

Losing Dan, Tsunade reflected, had been the last straw. There was nothing left for her in Konoha. The village was full of painful reminders, of crushed happiness and lost innocence, of loved ones who no longer walked the Earth but were buried beneath instead. She had outlived her entire family and couldn't help but think the Senju name was worth far more than the failure she had become.

So, she was leaving, taking with her nobody but Shizune because the girl showed potential and not because of the way she smiled, resembling a lavender-haired man with broken, unfulfilled dreams and a heart too kind for the world they lived in. She was leaving, taking with her nothing but her research because she refused to let go of the one thing standing between her and insanity. She was taking money because it was the damn rational thing to do and she was taking the cursed necklace because for all the heartache it brought her, it was still her grandfather's. Besides, who else would be capable of wearing the dreaded thing without dying afterwards?

She was leaving...or she was supposed to because the universe was just as twisted as mankind. Jiraya and Orochimaru have asked for her help one last time. The Three-Way-Deadlock deserved a final stand and Konoha deserved to have one more enemy face the fury of her fists.

She left. Left behind a mourning village, a powerful legacy and one more name to be carved on The Memorial Stone.

Senju Tsunade never made it back.

.

.

She was falling. Of that, she was aware of and fuck if she didn't have a bad feeling about it. She didn't have time for messing around, not when Jiraiya and Orochimaru were counting on her and the enemy was waiting to get his ass handed to him. The sensation was unpleasant and she wished there would be an end to it already. It was pitch black everywhere she looked and cold. Yet it was an unusual kind of cold because her body wasn't shivering, rather her mind was. Tsunade closed her eyes since it didn't make any difference, having them open. Her hands formed the sign for dispelling genjutsu.

It didn't work.

She was still falling and she was still pissed off. What was Orochimaru doing?She gritted her teeth. Did he got caught in a difficult battle? Or was the genjutsu cast on her out of his expertise even? Both options were terrifying to consider.

 _And you, Jiraiya? You two better look after each other and not give me a handful of injures to heal!_

Tsunade knew yelling was useless while trapped in a genjutsu. Unless she ended up scaring the shit out of its caster...which was highly unlikely. She dropped the sign with a sigh of defeat, opening her eyes and pushing a little chakra towards her irises. It was a new trick she had discovered that could improve night vision. It was tedious but she had to give it a shot if she hoped to find a way out. _It seems like I have to break through the old-fashioned way._

And how fun was that going to be.

Tsunade concentrated, noticing a slight improvement but other than a black two shades lighter...it was nothing useful. A growl of frustration promising pain was released from her throat. "Instead of acting like a pussy, how about you drop this game for children and fight me directly?!"

Suffice to say, the person behind the curtain got offended quickly and for a moment Tsunade wished she could have kept her mouth shut and lived on with the illusion of being under a genjutsu. Finding out she died, heroically or not, sucked whichever way you chose to look at it. "Listen here and listen good you piece of shit. Don't fuck with me. Tell me the truth otherwise I will personally make sure your family has no remains to retrieve after I'm through with you."

 _The denial is strong within this one._ The kami thought, shaking his head in dismay. _Well, not that it matters. She isn't the first one to throw a tantrum._

"Aa, language first hime."

That was the wrong thing to say.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she barked.

Dead or not, the privilege of addressing her in such a way and not get punched was reserved solely for the members of Team Sarutobi.

"I'm sorry if I hit a nerve. Anyway, Tsunade..." he grimaced, raising an eyebrow. "May I call you that or it's also forbidden?" he quickly added.

"Screw you." was her response.

"I will take that as an 'why yes you can kami-sama!' " he exclaimed cheerfully, searching through a stack of papers.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You better be looking for my life in there." she threatened him.

He sweatdropped. By far, she was the worst example of how to react after dying.

"Do you know what limbo is, Tsunade-chan?"

 _Is she even a woman?_ He wondered, utterly appalled after having to dodge a punch that, he was sure, would have hurt receiving, even as a god. He hated the rules of this place since more often than not spirits had free reign to attack him even and nee-sama had forbade him from burning them into a crisp...

Tsunade decided to humour him...for now. "No, but I bet you are going to tell me."

He hadn't rolled his eyes in a century and a half since having this job. "Limbo is the state between life and death where people wait for judgement."

She nodded, a lot calmer than before, as if the planets and starts just aligned and everything started to make sense. "Should have said so from the beginning. Lead the way to my eternal damnation baka, I've been ready since diapers."

The idiot gave her a strange, freaked out look. Not that she could blame him. People having that reaction was fairly common whenever she acted like a drunken nutcase. It was a persona she had created for Team Sarutobi's undercover missions which hit close to home whenever she had too much sake or when her rationality simply refused to function as it should. If you asked her, the fool had it coming.

"Can't do that."

The Slug Princess stroked own her chin, cocking an eyebrow. "Pray tell, oh mighty fool of the fools...where will I be going then?" she questioned, her words slurred as if she had really gotten drunk. Then, she clenched a fist, eyes a clear honey hue, promising pain. "Also, dare say my ass belongs to the good side and I will punch you so hard they will have to replace you."

 _Can gods even sweat? Is that possible?_ He asked himself, thinking that maybe, if he had to avoid getting hit, sweating was possible too in limbo. "Neither. It's better than death yet worse than life."

Tsunade gave him a perplexed look in return for his trouble. "How would you prefer if I riddle you a new head? Both meanings of the word included, keep that in mind." she patted his chest roughly, enough that the stack of papers fell from his grasp. Amazingly enough, it remained floating through the limbo, just like they were currently doing. She liked to feel solid ground beneath her feet, just for future reference.

Taking hold of the papers, she began fishing through them, completely indifferent to what the kami before her thought. Truth be told, Tsunade didn't know why he wasn't doing anything to stop her or handing her some sort of divine punishment for her rowdy behaviour. She didn't dwell on that once a particular file caught her attention. She read quietly under her breath. "Cycle of life. New possibilities...okay baka, what's this?"

One snap of fingers later and he was holding the paper. "Oh, that? Just the details of your new life." he answered simply, as if he was talking about the weather and not her fate.

Fighting the urge to do something drastic, Tsunade took a deep breath to calm herself. Upon discovering that wasn't working, she proceeded to chase him with a kunai, telling herself lodging a blade into his eye socket would be far less painful than one uppercut to damage his lungs...if he even had them to begin with.

"Funny how you are able to give me a damn new life but not return my old one!" she screamed, feeling utterly hopeless as she stopped. Placing her head in her hands, she complained: "Why me though?"

"Because you are the only one who can stop what's coming." he replied, pitying her after all. That seemed to soothe her anguish for the time being. Having a purpose does that to people.

"What's coming?"

He lowered his head, hold tightening against the papers he was carrying. "I can't tell you that. You must have faith hime."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

He sighed. What he wouldn't do to be deaf for the time being.

"I will need your signature." he added flatly after the silence dragged on and on.

Tsunade nodded absently before a sudden thought occurred to her. "So, how much do I get paid?"

"Paid...to what?"

"Paid to live a shitty life again, of course." she clarified, staring him down. Never mind the fact that he was taller than her, he still felt as if he was the one at disadvantage here.

"Well considering the reputation you had in your past life as The Legendary Sucker..."

She arched a perfect brow. "What's that supposed to mean?" Her time spent in limbo was beginning to sound like a hostage negotiation gone wrong but this was her second existence they were talking about. There better be lots of money involved!

"Nothing, nothing! Just, we can't give you money. There are quite a few debts we have to pay in your stead so..."

Tsunade waved a dismissive hand. "Leave them in the hands of my capable team."

He winced, correcting her. "Former team and I don't think you ever sat down and calculated just how much there is to pay back. So, we will cover it."

"Add 'former' near the words 'my team' again..."

"And you will punch me so hard that they will have to replace me. I know, I know, you have said that already." he cut her off, looking bored.

Tsunade smiled sweetly. "Actually, I was thinking something more along the lines of limbo chasing round number two. How does that sound?"

He actually paled at that. "We really cannot give you money but picture this, you will have your memories intact after your rebirth as well as some of your monstrous strength. Of course, with the potential of reaching your current healing abilities in the future."

She looked at him straight in the eye and then laughed. It was strained and it spoke of despair mixed with sorrow. "At least that since I suppose I won't see sensei or my teammates again."

 _Ah crap, she is making me feel bad for doing my job._ He thought, trying to offer some comfort. "You will, their older versions though."

"How long do I have to wait here until it's time?"

He smiled for the first time since their encounter. "One minute. Time passes differently in limbo. It's much slower."

She nodded, bracing herself for what was expecting her. "Any word of advice?"

"Quit chasing people with a kunai."

She laughed, but it didn't sound bitter this time. Then a white light appeared, signalling the end of one life and the beginning of another.

Senju Tsunade died on March 28th.

Twenty years later, Haruno Sakura is born on the same day.


	2. Chapter 2

" _Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change." - Mary Shelley_

* * *

The first thing Tsunade is aware of after her rebirth, is that her parents are civilians. The absence of leaf forehead protectors is her first clue. Her analysis doesn't stop there though. Their footsteps are loud, in general they make a lot of noise. Their conversations aren't filled with war strategies, talk of ninjutsu or taijutsu and when they mention foreigners, there is no bitter resentment, no lingering hate echoing. The woman, Mebuki, is strict and bossy and very set in her ways. The man, Kizashi, is cheerful, never missing an opportunity to crack jokes and blissfully ignorant. They are everything her real parents weren't. Whereas the Senju were intimidating, brave shinobi, her civilian family is meek and afraid of their own shadow. As such, they do their best raising her to resemble them. The colourful dresses she must wear are impractical; in her hand, where there should be a kunai, is a silly toy. To take a nap each afternoon is religious apparently, never mind the fact that she has the energy to climb mountains and the strength to make a little hole in the ground…

Kizashi is a merchant and Mebuki is a housewife. Naturally, people think their daughter dreams of a normal, uneventful career. Children are easily influenced by their parents during early childhood thus nobody believes the apple will fall far away from the tree. Tsunade, however, is determined to do just that. The couple doesn't know that inside their four-year-old daughter lies the mind of a seasoned shinobi, who had faced war and blood and death, who came out victorious yet more mentally scarred each time. She had breathed danger and had been more familiar than most with the horrors of the shinobi path to know that nothing can erase the print it leaves onto your being. Not even death.

It's a lot like walking, Tsunade muses as she lays wide awake during nap time because she will forever remain the spoiled, rebellious and unconventional princess. Once you learn how to take a step, you add another one and another one. Sometimes it's hard and you think back to the times you didn't have to do it and how easy it'd be to let yourself get picked up and carried again but you never do because _you learned how to walk_ and that feeling, of standing at the top of the world is powerful and addictive and you know nothing else will ever measure up.

She remembers her grandfather, voice loud and passionate and sure of what he is telling. _"Ninja are strong, are smart, are brave. They save, they endure and they thrive. Ninja...are heroes, Tsuna-chan. They protect the weak and defend the incapable. They build and they create and they love the world fiercely and they love life because they know how short it is and how little time they have. It's that love that created Konoha. Mine, and Mito-chan's and Madara's and yours too."_

She will forever be a shinobi. There are some things that you can't get rid of and that you can barely hide. As such, her (now) green eyes are too vigilant, too aware of the world. Her shoulders are tense and there is anticipation in her frail limbs as if any minute enemy-nin will come through the window. Then there is the fact that she never drops things. Children are clumsy by nature, hands too small and weak to hold firmly onto objects yet hers have an iron grip, enough that she gets cuts sometimes from gripping so tight. It's a habit. _If you don't let go, you won't lose them._

Tsunade knows she should apply that to people, not things and not in such a fierce way.

She ignores her own advice.

Memories are either fickle, quick to disappear or persistent and it's usually the painful ones that people have such a hard time forgetting. For her current age, Mebuki knows Sakura is different. Her growth is fast, abnormally so and whenever she points it out to her husband, he laughs, shakes it head and says it's all her imagination. She had thought so too, if only for her own peace of mind. That was in the beginning, when the signs were subtle enough that she could have missed them if she wasn't spending the entire day with her.

Sakura wasn't interested in playing, of any sort. Proof of that fact were the bunch of toys gathered into a pile and left forgotten in the corner. Even as an infant, Mebuki couldn't recall ever seeing her daughter play. She never laughed either. The most she did was smile and even that was a sad one, almost nostalgic, as if she was thinking about something she no longer had but yearned for all the same. Logic told Mebuki that Kizashi was right, maybe she was seeing things. Sakura was her first child after all, it was only normal that she worried and obsessed over her wellbeing.

Yes, she was making up reasons to fret over. That was it because the alternative would be admitting Sakura, at four-years-old, was mourning.

She didn't have anyone or anything to mourn over, for Kami' sake!

Mebuki clearly remembers the day she had walked on Sakura reading. It shocked her into silence and left her standing still, watching from the doorway. At first, she told herself she must have looked at the pictures until she realized the book had none. It was one of Kizashi's, telling of Konoha's history throughout the years. It wasn't written in simple kanji either and she knew for a fact that she didn't start teaching her daughter how to read yet. That evening, after dinner, she approached her husband, book in hand.

"Did you teach her how to read?"

It had been a simple question, Kizashi mused but the way Mebuki asked made it seem like the conversation subject was potential murder and not literature. Then her words registered and his eyes widened and he barely managed to mutter an awed "How...?" before his wife took off for their daughter's room. Thankfully, he succeeded to stop her from doing something stupid, like waking-up Sakura in the middle of the night.

"Let go of me Kizashi. I want an explanation."

Mebuki was his wife and he loved her for many things but her lack of tact wasn't one of them.

"And we will get one but not in this way. Besides, why are you acting like it's a bad thing?" he paused, beyond confused. "Our daughter taught herself to read! Sakura is a genius, Mebuki! If anything, she deserves a reward, not a punishment."

"It shouldn't have been possible..." she mumbled, a lot calmer than earlier.

He chuckled at that. "We live in Konoha. Here prodigies are born often enough."

"Among ninja clans, yes Kizashi but we are civilians." She exclaimed.

 _Here she goes, freaking out again._

"She learned to read, Mebuki, not walk on walls. Sakura is simply a lot smarter than the average. I'm proud of her. You should be too."

And that was the end of such discussion.

She didn't bring it up again, she didn't ask her daughter about it either. Her husband started coming home with books instead of toys and Sakura would smile, a little less sad and a tint brighter and Mebuki decided her happiness was the only thing that mattered.

* * *

A life ago, Tsunade used to know her priorities. Sake and gambling scoring pretty high on her list. Dying had turned said list to ashes, leaving her to wonder what was she supposed to do now that she'd get kicked out of bars and casinos. She had to find out more about the era she got reborn in. The easiest way to do so, Tsunade thinks as she pushes a chair, is just a few feet ahead. The chair is soon glued to the wall and she climbs on top to look out the window because she refuses sleep and sleep refuses her so she might as well do something productive.

So, the Hokage Mountain has four faces. She nods absently, attention shifting towards her favourite bar and...

 _Four faces?_

Last time she had seen it, there were three. Blinking rapidly, Tsunade leans closer, pushing herself against the glass as if doing so would improve her eyesight and make her better see a spot that is miles away. In hindsight, she knows she should have expected to see something of that sort. Sarutobi-sensei was fifty by the time she left the world, a wonder because most shinobi die young. It hurts nevertheless. The man had been like a second father to her, Jiraiya and Orochimaru. He took care of them before they learned to do it themselves. He taught them all he had known, from truths of life to the outstanding skills he possessed. He was kind and wise and she misses him terribly.

 _Grand-uncle would have been proud._ Tsunade thinks, continuously wiping at her eyes _when did she start crying?_ and climbs off the chair. Looking at four faces where there should have been three doesn't make things less true, only more painful. The title of Hokage had always taken loved ones away from her. Whoever is in that chair now, she hopes it's nobody she gives a damn about.

Her eyes widen in horror. Knowing her luck, there is a 99,9% that's true. Tsunade thinks of Jiraiya, loud, perverted but no less brave and determined. She thinks of Orochimaru, harsh and detached but an ambitious genius anyway and she curses her fate for loving people who have always danced too close to death.

She bolts out of her room, going straight for the living room. She looks up at the book shelf, pulling out a gigantic book on history. She doesn't stop searching until she reads the lines: _"Sarutobi Hiruzen, also known as the Professor and Third Hokage, retired, leaving the hat to Namikaze Minato, known as The Yellow Flash, student of Jiraiya of the Sannin."_

Tsunade releases a breath she didn't know she had held and this time when she cries, there are tears of happiness, not sorrow and continues to read.

.

.

She stares at her reflexion in the mirror. She has always been vain, it's a fact, something she doesn't hide from the world. A few weeks before she met her end, she had finished developing a jutsu powerful enough to make somebody old look young and beautiful. Now she will never find out what it feels like to use it and deceive people. She frowns. Her hair is no longer blonde but pink _who the fuck has pink hair?_ and her eyes are vibrant green to the point the ones she used to have, honeyed, seem dull in comparison. Tsunade decides she looks like a lost cause and then wonders whether she can keep up a henge just for hair colour. Granted her current age and chakra (or better said lack of), she doubts it. Especially if she wishes to start working on the development of her One Hundred Healings jutsu this early on.

 _The sooner I get to achieve it, the better._ She reflects, imagining how the purple diamond will look in contrast with her big and white forehead. She quickly shakes her head, however. No matter how she is going to look, she knows how she isn't: weak.

She sighs, remembering a time when the world was at her feet, a time when the Senju name had power. It still has but only as far as the Will of Fire is concerned. Now she is Haruno Sakura, nobody spectacular or worthy of praise. Just a snotty brat too clever for her age. All she had accomplished...gone with a snap of the kami's fingers. She wants past Konoha, her bad habits that made people laugh and shake their head all the same. She wants The Sandaime to ruffle her hair and to scold him for smoking, she wants Orochimaru to read quietly besides her on rainy afternoons and lonely nights and hell, she even wants to hear Jiraiya reading dumb poetry to woo her and listen to his dreams of peace, for all their impossibility.

Tsunade wants her life back but knows she will never get it.


	3. Chapter 3

_"God damn right, you should be scared of me." - Helsey_

* * *

People around her stare.

They stare.

And they stare.

And then stare some more.

Nevertheless to say, Tsunade isn't pleased with this predicament. Dimly she wonders whether she can get away with rearranging their faces or at least chase them with a kunai. Except she doesn't have one... _yet._ Somehow, that line of thought only makes her angrier.

"What are you looking at?" she cringes when people, namely middle-aged women, squeal and call her adorable. How is she supposed to seem threatening when her voice is high-pitched, she is small enough to fit in a shoe box and she was cursed to walk the earth pink-haired? The latter is the cause of her current distress...and desire to kill everybody in the room and then herself. A pink-haired ninja. The mere idea would have sent her into laughter-induced coma ( _was that even possible?)_ if the struggle hadn't been hers to bear. Thus, the sensible thing to do, she had decided a few hours ago after waking-up and glaring at the mirror ( _a habit now)_ was march inside the closest hair salon and demand a blonde dye, the hue similar to the one she missed having so much.

You can imagine how that went.

"Why would you want to change such beautiful hair? I can tell it is natural sweetie."

Tsunade glares.

"What I wouldn't give to have something like it!"

She continues to glare but it does nothing to stop the ruckus. Women left and right start rambling, more than happy to give their opinion.

Tsunade doesn't give a fuck about their opinion though.

"I want to become a kunoichi!" she exclaims and the magnitude of her statement ensures the room grows quiet. _Phew._ At least her voice still has volume. Tugging on her pink strands, she speaks through gritted teeth. "I can't with this."

Maybe it was the fierceness in her eyes _(they were said to mirror the soul)_ or the whiteness of her knuckles that convinces them she is serious. Either way, nobody laughs and that's more than enough reason for her to keep going. "I have money."

Money that she had stolen from Mebuki's secret hiding place which was nothing more than an empty dango jar. Tsunade had felt insulted and had considered helping the woman find a better place... but only after she gets to take advantage of it though.

"How old are you kid to be running around like this?"

 _Finally, two ninjas in this crowd of_ _mentally retarded_ _civilians_. Tsunade allows her muscles to relax, if only slightly. One should never let their guard down. She has always been sensitive to chakra and this particular one feels dangerous yet familiar. The one besides the man that spoke. His is certainly the one of a shinobi as well...just, less threatening. But the woman's...

It's almost like...

"Oi, brat! Cat got your tongue?"

Tsunade's eyes narrow angrily as she bites on her lip so she won't snap.  
 _Brat? Who does she think she is to call me that?_ If anything, _**she**_ is the brat. If she hadn't died, she could have been her younger aunt or something. "I'm four years old." she responds, proudly lifting her chin up. Damn doesn't Tsunade miss staring people down. With her current height though, it's impossible to do so. The former blonde is stuck looking up at the young woman sporting purple, short hair.

"Seems old enough to me." the woman turned to her male companion with a grin.

The man in return rolled his eyes, chewing on a... _senbon?_

Alright, Tsunade has decided. They are fucked if another war comes and they...whatever they are, must defend them. And by them, she means the helpless gossipers around, not herself. She can pull her own weight just fine.

 _Mainly because I weigh as much as a sack of potatoes now._

"Anko, surely her parents are out looking for her."

"Genma dear, if Kami had cursed me with pink hair, I'd fuck consequences and run to get a normal dye too."

"Your natural hair is purple." he flatly points out.

"And you are judging me while chewing needles that we use to kill with. We become shinobi because we are insane." she pauses, titling her head to a side. "Or we become insane because we are shinobi?"

The man named Genma shrugs his shoulders. "Works both ways, I think. Anyway..." he pulls the senbon out of his mouth and throws it behind him, straight into the trash bin. "You are coming with us kiddo. What's your name?"

Tsunade internally sighs.

 _I suppose it was wishful thinking from my part to believe nobody would meddle in my affairs._

She is a believer in signs and omens so she might as well resign now and never try changing her appearance again. A pink-haired ninja. She will have some struggle on the way but fuck if she won't give the universe the middle finger and succeed anyway. _Ha!_ _Let my enemies laugh while I whip the floor with their asses._ "Haruno Sakura."

The two of them chuckle. "It fits. You know, it's not so bad. If you become powerful enough it..."

Anko interrupts him with a snicker. "Won't change the fact that she looks like a living target."

Genma throws her a dirty look. "I was going to say that she won't even need stealth. Enemy will be up and running in the opposite direction, much like The Yondaime had scared enemy-nin badly enough to earn a flee on sight order."

Tsunade would have whistled in appreciation. _Fine student you have got Jiraya._ Until her mind registered everything he said. Another person died because of the Hokage mantle. She clenches her small fists and wonders _How many more will follow?_

"I know my way home."

Anko smirks and claps her companion on the back. "You heard the kid, Genma. Let's go. I have stuff to do until the festival begins."

The man looks uncertain. "You don't even like festivals." he half-groans, half-argues.

"No, but I like dango. You do the math." she retorts then walks out of the hair salon.

Genma looks down at her in that annoying way adults seemed to like doing. How Tsunade hates being treated as if she were helpless.

Hell, she'd probably give any genin a run for their money, chipmunk-sized and all. "I will be fine."

He doesn't know why he believes her. And years later, when asked, he'd still be as confused as ever because the alternative would be admitting four-year-old Haruno Sakura had the aura of somebody who had pulled their way up in life with war cries and bloody fists. He shakes his head in disbelief. Insane. That's what he is. That's what they all are.

 _And the less normal, the more brilliant._ Genma looks at Sakura and sees madness and a spark bright enough to rival the sun and thinks:

 _Pinky, you are already one of us._

He brushes the thought off however, makes himself forget and walk out the door. There are some things better left as mysteries.

* * *

Tsunade used to like festivals. As a child, she had liked them because it was one of the few occasions her grandfather had some free time to spend it together with her and the rest of the family. As a teenager, she had liked them because Jiraiya gave her and Orochimaru no other choice but to do so. As a young adult, she had enjoyed them because they made the perfect date for her and Dan. Once she lost count of the ones she had lost, festivals became just another excuse for her despicable habits. She could get drunk and gamble to her heart's content on those nights filled with music and different types of food. Nobody judged her then. Mostly because they were busy doing the same.

Jiraiya had given her disapproving glances, his forehead creased into a frown. Acting serious and nothing like the goofball he usually was. He had joined her soon though. Orochimaru had been more vocal and less expressive but even his witty remarks turned into sly smirks and quiet acceptance a few glasses of sake later. Both knew it wasn't healthy but it was what she wanted and sometime between shared lunches, rigorous training, brilliant teamwork, taking lives, saving each other...Tsunade became the one person they could never refuse.

She never told them they also made it hard to say 'no' to.

 _Bah. The fools._

Her expression softens.

 _Wherever they are, I hope they didn't change._

They had understood better than anyone else why she was doing what she had been doing. The sake served to numb her senses and fog her mind badly enough so she couldn't remember much of a past too painful to bear. And the gambling? She bet to prove she still had things to lose but her bets were never placed on her teammates. Tsunade knew her luck and she didn't want to add them to the list.

The former blonde looks down at the pale pink yukata she is wearing and scoffs. Truthfully, she has no idea what's the cause of celebration. She can't remember ever having to go to a festival in October. _It's been twenty-four years baka, things happen. Things change._ She thinks, wondering whether she can convince Mebuki and Kizashi to leave without her. It's hard keeping up this childish act when she is anything but four years old.

"Ne, tou-san...what's the festival about?" she yells as she comes running down the stairs. It had dawned on her earlier this week that she had to make an effort and act, at least in little ways, like the adorable brat they think she is.

Even if Kami knows she is anything but a brat.

 _The adorable part is completely debateable though._

"Don't run down the stairs Sakura! How many times have I told you? You could break one of your legs!" Mebuki scolds her.

She rolls her eyes. "Hai, hai." she mumbles under her breath, coming to a stop in front of Kizashi who is mostly impartial during this kind of discussions. He looks down at her with what can only be described as pride and joy.

Tsunade can't say she shares his enthusiasm. Moments later, she finds herself hoisted up. _How long has it been since had anyone tried that? Let alone succeeded?_

"Look how pretty our daughter is Mebuki! Her first time attending a festival!" he exclaims in delight before settling her back to the ground. Then, as if remembering her question, Kizashi's expression changes into something that seems to resemble both regret and gratitude. "Four years ago, the Kyuubi attacked the village. The Fourth Hokage fought bravely and saved us, but lost his life in the process."

Tsunade blinks, trying to process the information she had been given. There are so many questions standing at the tip of her tongue. She can't risk voicing them out loud though. She most probably knows more about tailed beasts than her civilian parents do and yet not enough to complete the puzzle. _Mito-baa-sama was the first host. Kushina followed afterwards..._

It's clear that something must have happened to the redhead. What exactly, she can't be sure.

She doesn't dwell on it.

"So, we honour Yondaime-sama if we go to the festival?" _and the current host of the fox._ Tsunade mentally adds, imagining how heavy must be the burden that Jinchuuriki carry their whole lives.

The married couple gives her a gentle smile, no longer surprised by her insight. "Exactly."

She is the first to rush out the door. _Ahem,_ walk...at a very fast pace.

"Sakura, wait for us!"

"Can't! I'm too excited!"

She runs and runs. The streets have changed a little from what she used to know but nothing her instinct can't compete with. Tsunade hears the screams before she sees the crowd. Anger, despair, hate... She knows this sound all too well but to hear it in inside the village and not on the battlefield is more than mildly disturbing.

"Demon!"

"You killed my family!"

"I say we kill him ourselves!"

She comes to a screeching halt, dreading the worst. The crowd moves like a multi-headed beast that shares only one brain. Their thoughts are in lock-step as much as their feet. She fears their mindset is also one and the same. The sight of natural pink hair however, stuns people enough that she succeeds to pass through and end up right in the middle of pandemonium and for the first time in her second life, Tsunade counts her rare hue as a blessing.

Her stomach clenches at the sight of a scared little boy who is neck deep in trouble. _He can't be much older than I am in this life..._

It's not difficult for Tsunade to connect the dots. What's difficult is to digest the fact that her sensei let this happen, let classified information leak out and spread like wildfire, endangering a child's life in the process. The identity of a Jinchuuriki was only supposed to be known by a small number of rational and trusted individuals, not by the entire Leaf!

 _What the fuck were you thinking Sarutobi-sensei? I bet it's all that smoking you do on a daily basis._ To say Tsunade was pissed off would be an understatement. To her, it felt like the universe, or more specifically, the idiot who dropped her here was having a good laugh at her expense. Is this what she gets for wanting to leave the village? A shitty new life, a monumental headache, and several existential crises?

 _Had Konoha gone mad?_

One of the men gathered around, a drunkard with the mental capacity of a sheep if the way he shouts profanities and trips over his own feet are any indications...picks up the blond by the collar of his shirt. Everybody is watching the scene, either cheering or acting as a passive observer, indifferent to the little one's cries of help, indifferent to his suffering. So, is it any wonder that she lets out a childlike scream, a desperate attempt to stop this cruelty?

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Nobody hears her demand, or if they do, they don't seem to care. She looks on and as the man raises his hand to strike... She doesn't think. Her rebirth did nothing to erase her war shaped reflexes, nor the compassionate heart of a medic-nin and though her body is young and inexperienced, it moves. Tsunade sees a target, but most importantly, she sees a child in need of protection and nobody else willing to offer him that. She sees _Nawaki._ Innocent, fragile, helpless and something in her...snaps.

Small enough not to be noticed, yet tall enough to reach the leg holster of a nearby shinobi, Tsunade grasps hold of a kunai and forgets. Forgets where she is, who she is, how old she is. Forgets Mebuki and Kizashi, who are somewhere in the crowd, trying to reach her. Forgets about keeping up damn appearances, forgets she is no longer blonde, legendary and a force to be reckoned with. None of that matters when she lets go of the kunai and feels like the kunoichi she hadn't been in years.

She misses her mark. She knew she would. That's not the point. Tsunade wanted to make a statement, not kill her first person as Haruno Sakura at the age of four. People around gasp, mouths open beyond what you'd think humans are capable of. The scumbag drops the kid to the ground, holding his jawline in pain. The force of her throw had been minimal so there was little blood falling from the wound.

But there will be a scar.

That's all she really wanted. To leave a reminder, for him and everyone who saw, how easily a four-year-old could have killed a grown man tonight. How easily it could have been to hit the artery in the neck connected to the heart and end it all.

"I said: Leave. Him. Alone."

Tsunade doesn't like repeating herself and after tonight, she doesn't think she will do it again any time soon. For the first time in centuries, pink is feared just as much as any other colour.


	4. Chapter 4

_"If you can affect someone when they're young, you are in their heart forever" - Mara Wilson_

* * *

 _Konoha is full of gossipers._ It's a conclusion Tsunade reaches a few days after October 10th. She should have seen it coming, really. You don't go ahead, do the shit she just did and then expect people to stay quiet about it. Some of the things she hears the villagers say are hilarious.

"Just what we needed. Another child prodigy. And this one sides with the demon brat."

"It's like Hatake Kakashi all over again. Genius, but screwed in the head."

Others, not so much.

Tsunade scowls, then sneaks a peek at her parents. For once, there is not a single trace of amusement creasing Kizashi's face. The joke between him and the universe, that only he knew the contents of, is gone. Gone and replaced by a scowl. Compared to her husband and with a great deal of irony, Mebuki never stops smiling. It's a forced one, sure but it's there, to act as a shield between the world and her, their daughter. They never yell at her for what happened at the festival. They don't demand answers, they don't tell her to steer clear of the Kyuubi's host, they don't punish her for getting herself into trouble.

 _Nothing._

They act as if nothing happened. She doesn't know whether it's blatant ignorance, their brain's refusal to accept the reality of it all or...the unconditional love parents have for their children that ensured all of the above didn't occur the days that followed her act of bravery.

Tsunade isn't a paranoid person. Weak people are while she...she is no longer tall, mighty and powerful but a pink-haired brat whose stunt earlier this week had struck discomfort among civilians and shinobi alike.

 _Fuck._

She'd be stupid not to fear for her life. Kami knows whose important son or brother she had publicly humiliated and no matter how much she'd like to think that Konoha, noble, warm Konoha isn't corrupted in its own way, she knows wishful thinking and delusions (especially delusions) are the mistakes of fools. So, Tsunade sleeps with one eye open and a kitchen knife under her pillow. It's far less practical than a kunai but hell she is a four-year-old born to civilian parents which makes _that_ the sharpest thing she has at her disposal. She tries not to dwell on such aspects since it does nothing but add insult to injury. _How the mighty have fallen._ She thinks, downing a glass of jasmine tea. It tastes like crap, basically water with flowers in it but she is reminded of spring mornings spent talking to her grandmother and nostalgia has always been something Tsunade equally loved and hated. Besides, it gives her the illusion of drinking sake; it's easy to pretend if the liquor is inside an opaque recipient.

Someone is watching her movements. ANBU, if her gut doesn't deceive her. The presence is subtle, subtle enough that she almost overlooked it. _Word must have reached Sarutobi-sensei._ He can't intervene and take into custody a child who might or might not be a spy in disguise. Not until he has proof. Tsunade is determined not to show any, meaning she has to act her age plus a few. Since prodigies are known to be skilled and smart beyond their years, that's how people must label her as: a genius. She inwardly snorts as she takes another sip from her tea.

"Is something the matter Sakura-chan?" Mebuki asks her, concerned.

She weighs her options carefully before she speaks. "Being different, it's not wrong, is it?"

"Of course not."

"What made you think that sweetie?"

Tsunade almost feels bad for manipulating her new family. _Almost._ Feeling guilty is the privilege of the good and she hadn't been that in years. "The people whispering behind our backs. I heard them all day."

The Haruno couple glance at one another in disbelief.

"What do they know of my daughter? You are different than most children, but that's your strength. That's what makes you special. Kami-sama gave you pink hair because nobody else could handle having it." Kizashi beams.

"As for what you did that night at the festival..." Mebuki pauses. "You were brave, Sakura-chan, unexpectedly so and that's nothing to condemn."

"So, you aren't mad?" she looks at them behind her eyelashes.

Their eyes soften.

"Mad? No." the woman shakes her head.

"But we feared for your safety." the man adds.

She doesn't blame them. No matter how old children get and no matter how skilled, parents will always worry and fret over their well-being. Compared to shinobi, civilians are a lot more open with their affection. Tsunade can't recall ever hearing her parents say they feared something. They always stood tall, like pillars of strength, even as they were dying. Had they been alive to see her funeral, would have they screamed at the sky for taking her away? Just like she did when it took them? When it took Nawaki? Death is a shinobi' second shadow. Having it stand close to you, it's easy to accept your own from a young age. _What is a life compared to the greater good of the village?_ However, ninja mourn the same as civilians. Though they aware of their own shadow, they never quite see the one attached to their loved ones. They refuse to, tell themselves: _Death will touch me, but not them, never them._ And that, perhaps, is their biggest tragedy.

Tsunade grips her thigh under the table and looks up with the most determined expression Mebuki and Kizashi had seen crease the face of anyone. "Instead of going to school, I want to join The Ninja Academy."

To her astonishment, they nod gravely. "We know, Saku-chan."

Her father chuckles and scratches the back of his neck. "After what you did that night, I don't think we'd be able to stop you anyway." he pauses, glancing at his wife. "Though your mother doesn't agree, she knows that too."

Mebuki sighs, like her worst fears have just come true. "Once we sign the papers, there is no going back. You understand what you are asking?"

As the granddaughter of The First Hokage, it had been expected of her but to tell the truth, nothing else would have fit her like a glove. She had wanted to be powerful, to be respected for more than just her name. To have people all over The Elemental Nations acknowledge that Senju Tsunade did what no other man and woman before her had done. It was a matter of pride. It was a matter of honour. It was a desire born out of love. Become a shinobi and give your life? Nothing as noble. For how much it took, Konoha also gave and try as she might, there was no denying the fact that she could have left the village, but the village would have never left her heart. She replies, serious and unlike how children should be. "I understand, kaa-san."

Mebuki nods, and if there are tears in her eyes, Tsunade pretends not to notice. "She could have chosen anything else." is what she hears her tell Kizashi when they get home.

The same words are spoken again at The Academy Entrance Ceremony but if she hears, she can't bring herself to care because her sensei is just a few feet away in all his Hokage glory. Older than she had ever seen him but no less the man who had been like family. _Who is family._ Had Tsunade heard Mebuki mumble to her husband that day, she would have turned around and said that no, she had it all wrong. She chose nothing.

The shinobi path, on the other hand, had chosen her long ago.

.

.

"Look how big her forehead is!"

"I know right! She is ugly, unlike us."

 _Kids_ , Tsunade muses, _can be shits too._ Little ones, but that doesn't excuse their behaviour. Back in the day, you'd have never seen something of that sort happen. Mostly because the stench of death and the possibility of war were always looming. The Ninja Academy of today is gentler with their approach, the conditions that need to be met so you are allowed to join are stricter, true, but that's only because wars are fought with manpower and Konoha is not at war now. In between, it's highly advisable to focus on polishing only the brightest gems. During her generation, there wasn't any time for that. Rough stones, pearls, rubies, they were all smashed together. The best ones pulled through and got their names in the bingo book. The ones too soft for the cruel world they lived in got theirs carved on The Memorial Stone.

 _I probably fell in both categories._

The war hadn't killed her but Senju Tsunade was dead all the same. She wonders whether it'd be considered narcissistic to mourn your own life.

"Hey, we are talking to you! Are you deaf?"

She catches the girl's wrist inches away from her hair. It's a test of self-control because she knows her own strength and applying the slightest pressure would break it. "Next time you try that, I will make sure that _you_ are."

She wouldn't actually follow through her threats but they don't know that.

"Come on Ami, let's leave the freak alone." the smarter of the two says, equally fearful.

Tsunade lets go of her wrist, not surprised when she sees the echo of her tight grip show. The brat rubs at her skin, nose high in the air. If nothing else, they have pride in common. The two leave her alone. That was her first pre-genin confrontation. No one would have dared to get within five feet of the Hokage's niece if she hadn't wished it, much less have the guts to insult her. Clan children are still respected, she observed, but the same can't be said about civilian ones. Most people see them as a means to an end, rightfully so. Tsunade is eager to change such mindset though she can't help but wonder. _Would Haruno Sakura have become great without my rebirth?_

She likes to think that yes, she would have. Pink hair and large foreheads aren't for the weak of heart.

"If they bother you, why don't you tell Iruka-sensei?" Standing to her left, a dark-haired boy asked her. He wears a trench coat that reaches his chin as well as tinted glasses. It's easy to identify him as the Aburame heir. Bugs from all over the backyard are attached to him. She imagines that he must also have a rough time.

"Iruka-sensei would have given them a scolding. This way, they won't bother me again tomorrow." she explains.

Compared to her former Academy instructor, Yoshida Emiko, the man is mellow and lets them get away with many things. Tsunade was used to getting her way but Emiko-sensei hadn't cared about that. She had treated everyone equally while her spoiled attitude had done little to impress her. The hag had even knocked down her ego a few steps and made out of attending The Academy a nightmare she'd never forget. Jiraiya had kissed his headband on the day they graduated and though Orochimaru would never admit it, there was no mistaking the relief that had shown on his face. After Emiko, all Academy teachers had looked like pups to her and that has yet to change.

"Your forehead is not that big."

Tsunade didn't expect the kid to say anything else. The Aburame weren't known to be a social bunch, unless that also has changed. "And I've seen scarier things than your bugs." she retorts. _Huge understatement._ While she can't see his eyes because of the glasses, she guesses she just shocked him.

"They don't disgust you either?"

 _He is sceptical for a five-year-old._

Tsunade almost laughs. She had performed plenty of gross surgeries and had seen ninja die in less dignified ways. Little can disgust her now. "These guys?" she picks one from atop his shoulder. "No."

He looks at her in awe as she places the insect back where she took it from. "You are the first to say that." he scrunches up his nose in confusion. "And you are a girl."

She puts her hands on her hips. "Whoever told you that girls aren't as brave as boys was most likely a boy himself."

"A man." he corrects her. "Tou-sama did."

 _Same shit little one. I bet your mother would strongly disagree._

"Parents aren't always right." she says instead and extends out her hand. "I'm Sakura."

The kid stares at it, perplexed, as if he still can't grasp the thought of talking to someone other than family.

She stomps her foot impatiently, acting her age. "Well, go on. You don't leave people with their hand hanging."

He listens and shakes her hand. "I'm Shino." he seems uncertain whether to say something else but eventually makes up his mind. "Thank you."

Whatever Tsunade had been expecting, it wasn't gratitude and a bow. "Nothing to thank." she assures. Though she doesn't know it then, The Aburame don't take social acceptance lightly and befriending Shino has just earned her a clan's favour.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto spends his days by himself. Now that he is old enough to have joined The Academy, the orphanage is but a distant thought. He no longer lives there but inside a small apartment. Still in the shady and scary part of the village but he doesn't whine about it. He has his own bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom that he shares with no one. Grandpa Hokage visits him whenever he can and gives him money. Though shop keepers aren't fair with prices, he doesn't mind buying cheaper clothes and mostly ramen. He doesn't know how to cook anyway and the stove looks like it could burn someone who doesn't. Overall, he is happy. He knows he should be, at least but loneliness is heavy and he isn't strong enough to carry it. One day, he will be.

But not today.

When he closes his eyes, Naruto returns to the festival. He hears the drunk man yell harsh words, remembers how it feels to have his feet leave the ground because of somebody else' strength. He thinks he shouldn't have sneaked out of the orphanage but it was his birthday and he had wanted to see the bright lights and maybe get away with eating some candy. He would have been good and returned afterwards as if he never even left. Unfortunately, people had seen him. The really bad ones always did. Most usually ignored him but some, some hated him. _Hate is ugly_ , Naruto decided that night and promised to never hate anyone. He didn't know much about grown-ups, (duh he wasn't one, how could he?) but he liked to think he knew children (since he is one himself, he thought that would be enough).

Some time later, he found out that it wasn't. Pulling pranks didn't make his classmates like him. Sure, they laugh (sometimes, when he felt really inspired) yet still walk away whenever he gets close and asks whether they could play together. He no longer tries to earn their friendship (false, he always will because refusing to giving-up is such a strong part of who he is that his subconscious acts on it even if Naruto himself doesn't understand that yet). His pranks never cease and he makes sure his voice is loud enough to give Iruka-sensei a headache. He won't ever be a shadow. When he does something, people will know. Meanwhile, pink becomes his favourite colour though Naruto would sooner eat vegetables than admit that. Unlike the rest, Sakura-chan doesn't ignore him, not intentionally. She is quiet, keeps to herself and speaks if spoken to. The fact that she never plays is her only flaw really. He is hesitant to talk to her. _What do you say to someone who protected you?_

Naruto feels words wouldn't be enough. So, one night as he struggles to do the boring homework sensei gave them, he glances over at the ANBU ordered to guard him. _Where were you when I needed you?_ He bites his lip, knowing that isn't fair. Grandpa Hokage had switched them after that night. "Ne, Tora-san, how do you thank a girl?"

Silence.

He tries again, determined. This is too important. "She saved me which is pretty cool. I always thought boys are supposed to be stronger than girls. I don't think that anymore." he pauses. "Please, Tora-san?" He almost loses hope when the ANBU answers:

"Try and give her a flower but don't mention the boys are stronger part."

He grins happily. "Thanks Tora-san!" then he goes back to his homework, mumbling all the while about what flower he'd give.

.

.

Naruto nearly trips over his own feet when he gives Sakura the white rose he had bought. His cheeks are flushed pink in embarrassment and all he can think about is how it would have been better to leave it inside her bag. He closes the hand that doesn't hold the flower in a small fist. _You are not a scared y-cat._ "Here." he hands it to her. "It's not much but I promise to make it up to you one day." A white rose means respect, admiration. He had liked the sound of that.

The pink-haired girl blinked twice. She looked at the flower, then she looked at him.

Naruto can't stand silence. It bugs him and it bugs him hard. "If you'd like another one, that's fine too! I could go back and change—"

Sakura drew the white rose closer to her chest. "No. I like this one." she huffs. "Baka, you shouldn't have gotten me anything."

He shakes his head vehemently, relieved that she didn't refuse the gift and that he had made the right choice. "You protected me." he clenches his fist. "Nobody has ever done that, so, thank you." Nobody has ever deemed him worthy of protecting before.

She looks angry for some reason that he can't begin to comprehend. "I'd do it again." she snorts, correcting herself: "I will do it again. You are a trouble magnet."

Naruto has never known much about grown-ups (who does? clearly not him) and he used to think he understood children (he is a kid himself) but one thing he'd never quite get is how he had gotten this lucky.

"Eh?" his eyebrows pinched in confusion. "What's a magnet?"

* * *

 **A/N: God, did I miss writing Tsunade. She is one of my favourite characters! Why the heck did I take so long to update? Anyway, thank you for the positive feedback! I tried my hand at writing from Naruto's point of view for once. I almost cried a little bit. His past really is sad. I hope you will like this chapter at least half as much as I have enjoyed writing it.**

 **PoppyxHatake: Hello again! It was so nice of you to leave a review here as well. I appreciate the gesture and how involved you already are in the story even though it's at the beginning. Your questions are good. Please forgive me for not answering them. I like to keep the mystery. Jiraiya and Orochimaru's reactions to Tsunade's death will be shown, all in due time, I promise. You will also see how it affected them. Also, The Third Hokage might or might not die. Thank you for the compliments! Hope to read from you again.**


	5. Chapter 5

_"We are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves." - François de La Rochefoucauld_

* * *

ANBU takes shinobi closer to death. For Kakashi, it's familiar territory. Death already hovers over him like an axe. He avoids his former classmates and almost-friends for the same reason he doesn't sleep at night. What if the axe takes them as well?

He had lost too much for his soul to be recognisable.

 _It is said that eyes mirror the soul_. He thinks as his bathroom mirror shatters. His fist had acted on its own, he'd lie expertly because the truth is much harder to digest even for a war-hardened veteran like Kakashi. Whatever light his eyes may have had once, it's gone now.

Even the eye that should have been his, isn't. Not anymore. Not in a long time.

 _(Sensei would be sad if he saw him like this.)_

Minato's memory is the closest he has come to regarding something as being sacred. So, he clenches his bloody fist, wraps it up with a bandage and gets to work. He carefully reconstructs the mirror only to hand it over. Whatever is left of his soul, Kakashi loses the day ANBU becomes him and he becomes ANBU. People contemplate his sanity in whispered rumours and sardonic remarks. Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi read his monumental file and shake their head. Some things not even Konoha's Heads of Torture and Intelligence can fix.

All he touches, he ruins. Out on the field, that's no longer a curse. He dances between opponents with unrivalled grace, uses deception as weapon and kills until his heart becomes numb and the difference between human and target no longer exists. Lightning shines bright around him even as his surroundings darken. They give him nicknames. The White Fang's legacy. The Copy Cat. Kakashi of a Sharingan that's not even his but that does his bidding all the same when it should have killed him instead.

 _(Somehow, he always stays alive even when everyone around him doesn't.)_

Days and weeks blend into months and months turn into years. Dimly he wonders when had the smell of blood stopped bothering him. He can't remember any more than he can recall Sensei's soothing voice. Weapons like him don't need soothing.

 _(Sharp. Cold. Deadly. It's all he is now.)_

He waits for the axe to finish him off as it had finished his comrades in the cruellest of ways, each one more painful than the last.

It never does. Kakashi lives with blood on his hands, empty eyes, and an arsenal of jutsu he'd exchange for his parents and team in a heartbeat.

 _(If he doesn't have a soul, what is hurting?)_

 _(If his eyes aren't his, how is he crying then?)_

He can't allow himself to cry. Drenched weapons are damaged steel and damaged doesn't accomplish the mission. Rusty gets tossed aside. ANBU would no longer need him.

And Kakashi needs ANBU as not to crumble into the depths of insanity.

 _(Another prodigy lost his mind, he pictures them whispering.)_

The ones who don't, die and the ones who do, do so because death didn't take them yet.

"I have a mission for you."

The Sandaime is a man he respects, one of the few left that warrant such feelings but his age and experience are not enough to make his mask look convincing. Not to someone who has worn a hundred masks on top of each other since early childhood, at least. Kakashi eyes the pile of reports atop the Hokage's desk as if they had just blown his cover. Surely one must be his and thus the reason he was summoned in the first place.

"What mission do you have for me?" he asks out of politeness and a sense of duty so deeply rooted inside him that it couldn't have gotten replaced with stubborn silence even if he wanted.

Sarutobi Hiruzen pulls out a file and hands it over.

Kakashi stumbles a step backwards and almost stubs his toe in the process. That's...

 _Most certainly not for me._

"Hokage-sama, I fail to see how the file of Academy student..." he paused. "Haruno Sakura is of any importance to what we are discussing."

The files of the Uchiha or the Hyuga heir, he would have understood. Assassination attempts on kekkei genkai wielders weren't unusual but the file of a civilian?

 _A five-year-old civilian?_

"Your confusion is understandable, Kakashi-kun." Was it him or did The Sandaime enjoy producing a crack in his composure? "Read her file. Most five-year-olds don't have public assault of men three times their size written inside."

Irony couldn't erase the gravity of the situation.

His visible eye widened slightly as he scanned over the document explaining what happened on this year's October 10th. Kakashi could scarcely decide which was worthier of concern. A child, The Kyuubi's host more specifically nearly having been beaten or an adult nearly having been killed by...a civilian five-year-old girl.

"She stood up for someone everyone either berated or ignored. That in and on itself is strange." he remarked.

"Children have tender hearts, Kakashi."

"What she did to the scum that picked on Naruto was anything but tender, Hokage-sama." he stated bluntly. "The spot where the kunai hit, it couldn't have been a coincidence or a fluke. A few centimetres made the difference between alive and dead. It was a calculated move. Other than saving, its purpose was to send a massage. Try hurt him again and see what happens." Kakashi looked up. "Forgive my scepticism but I hardly believe you called for me to tell you the things that you already thought of yourself."

The Professor arched an eyebrow as he puffed slowly into his pipe. "Perhaps I wanted validation."

"Even so, there are more qualified people you could have summoned. This isn't ANBU territory." he argued.

Sarutobi's eyes hardened and suddenly the man who survived three shinobi wars and fought his way to the Hokage seat, who lost not one but two students as well as a successor surfaced. "All of Konoha and the other hidden ninja villages are, if need be, ANBU's territory. I decide how far and over which problems the organization extends. _This_ , is one of those times." he emphasized. "What's your opinion, Kakashi?"

"In truth, she did nothing that you or I wouldn't have done. Whoever guarded Naruto that night had been careless." he said it meaningfully.

"I've already taken care of that and replaced him. Now if you are done guilt-tripping your Hokage..."

It wasn't his intention.

"You asked Lord Third, I delivered." he replied simply. "We can't overlook the possibility of a spy network designed to destroy us from the inside. The easiest way would be to take control of The Kyuubi. Granted how the village treats Naruto, having one person that stood up for him when nobody else did could influence him. If the girl was born and raised to do the enemy's dirty work, we have a problem. If, however, she is indeed a genius who happened to be born among the non-gifted...then it's a future method of ensuring Naruto's loyalty to the Leaf."

The Third nodded, setting his pipe aside. "The man Haruno Sakura injured voiced a complaint and demanded I punish the girl. I declined."

Kakashi wasn't surprised. If Hiruzen had any weak spots, those were children and until further proof, Sakura was a loyal citizen of Konoha. She had to be protected as such. "I suspect he didn't take it well?"

He hummed noncommittally. "You suspect correctly. Your mission is to observe, interfere if needed and report back to me."

.

.

It was time for the amicable spars. Tsunade suppressed a snort. Back in the day, those were anything but amicable. They were harsh. A wake-up call. Emiko-sensei had always paired off the weakest with the strongest. Not all students could be gems but all should be motivated to fight tooth and nail for survival. War didn't decide who was right, but who was left.

"Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino step up to the circle please."

Iruka had mostly likely assumed she was the weaker of the two. Either the rumours of 'the pink-haired freak who scarred an adult' had yet to reach his ears or he figured clan children must be even more exceptional.

"Good luck." the blonde told her sincerely.

"You too." she intoned and fell back into a stance that she hadn't used in years. Tsunade didn't want to give away more than she had to. _Resorting to basic Academy skills it is._

Ino's movements had yet to possess any kind of grace. The limbs of a child wouldn't allow it. She was elusive and sought to tire her out, convinced she lacked the stamina. _Good tactic for a brat._

The fighting ceased when Tsunade swept a foot under her. She could have ended the spar a lot sooner. Granted how she will be seeing more of these children and possibly work with them in the future, she doubted humiliation was key to good comradeship. By gripping Ino's forearm, she helped the girl stand back on her feet. Iruka complimented their mature approach and signalled for them to make the unison sign.

They cleared the ring and joined the rest of the class. Iruka declared. "The next spar is Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto!"

Tsunade grimaced. She had a bad feeling about this.

"ALRIGHT! I'M GONNA WIN THIS FOR SURE!"

 _Baka, don't be overconfident._

"LET'S GO, IDIOT!"

Iruka scolded him properly though little good it did. "Naruto, before the spar, you have to make the symbol of 'combat'. It's proper etiquette!"

"WHO CARES ABOUT THAT? LEMME BEAT THIS LOSER UP ALREADY AND BECOME THE NEW MR. POPULAR!"

She urged to yank the blond backwards and knock some sense into him. The Uchiha had the skills to back up their enormous pride. Taunting them only ensured the outcome would be worse than what they had initially planned on delivering.

Sasuke retorted. "Whatever, loser. I'll take you down in one-"

"Stop, both of you!" Iruka demanded.

Eventually, the boys formed the sign to start the spar and Tsunade watched as Sasuke rushed in and knocked down Naruto with a single blow. The idiot denied his defeat and proceeded to shout louder than ever. Both were equally stubborn and refused to reconcile. Their classmates cheered for one and ostracized the other. It prompted Naruto to leap the fence and run off.

For a second there, she was reminded of her teammates. Jiraiya and Orochimaru never saw eye to eye. Before they became The Sannin, before they even became a team, all their interactions had mirrored the one of Naruto and Sasuke. Later, they had reached an understanding on their own. These two however, for all their initial resemblance to her boys, were actually nothing alike. Orochimaru never scorned Jiraiya but merely stated facts. It wasn't out of ill will. Jiraiya hadn't wanted to take his place, but simply wished to be acknowledged.

As break neared, she made up her mind and strolled past the sea of fangirls until she reached the Uchiha. "You didn't have to humiliate him." her nostrils flared.

His eyebrows drew together. "He did that himself."

"You could have dragged the spar for a while longer." Tsunade accused.

Sasuke scoffed. "Like you did?" when her eyes widened slightly, he continued. "If he graduates, out there enemies won't hesitate."

"Right now, we are not out there." she clenched a fist. "We are here and Naruto doesn't have your training." Deep down, she knew he was right. Whether his clan had spelled it out for him or he learned by example, such was reality.

"He insulted me first." he argued.

Tsunade chuckled without humour whatsoever. "Arrogance will get you nowhere."

"It's gotten me this far."

"And where exactly is that? Girls like you but you can't call them your friend. Boys either envy you or don't care. That crest on your back might give you the upper hand but it won't keep you from being alone." Family was important but if it ever died, what would that leave you with? Friends were a second family and Sasuke would do well to understand that. There was more to Konoha than the members of the clan he loved and looked-up to. Nobody knew it better than she did. The Senju name had died with her while the ones still left were hidden, scattered across The Elemental Nations, just like the Uzumaki.

Tsunade prayed it was nothing but a coincidence. History had a funny way of repeating itself and people had a funny way of always being caught off guard.

When classes were over with, she found Naruto sitting on top of The Hokage Monument. Her eye twitched upon spotting the carved face of her grandfather. Now he had a purple painted moustache. Granduncle and sensei didn't look much better but she tried not to dwell on that.

"I didn't lose, Sakura. Teme was unfair." he protested when he noticed her, arms crossed over his chest.

She sat cross-ledged beside him and clicked her tongue. "There are no fair fights."

"Yours was fair!" Naruto protested, flaying his arms around.

"I toyed with Ino. So, no, it wasn't." she stated firmly then turned to face him. Tsunade flickered his nose with her thumb.

"Hey." he scowled.

She levelled him with a look. "Running away to paint legendary shinobi won't make you one, baka."

Naruto's blue eyes brightened all of a sudden. Recognition dawned on her face. Those were the same eyes Jiraiya got whenever he planned to ask her a favour. "What will? How do I beat Sasuke?"

She flickered his nose again.

"Ow, what did I do now?" he drew backwards.

"You act before you think."

He gave her a confused look. "And?"

Tsunade had to refrain from hitting the blond. "And you can forget winning if you keep doing that."

"But he knocked me down by _acting_ , Sakura-chan." Naruto whined.

 _I didn't think he'd be so thick-headed._

"You focused more on throwing insults than on the spar itself." she paused. "Sasuke has better training and is naturally faster."

He looked away dejectedly. "You sound as if you admire him dattebayo."

Tsunade rose an eyebrow. "Can you deny what I said?"

"No." He couldn't though he was reluctant to admit it.

In time, Jiraiya realized he couldn't compete with Orochimaru's thirst for learning, nor with his good memory. So, the moron took what he was good at and improved until most of their spars ended with a tie. Orochimaru might have known more jutsu but Jiraiya came to know people, to read his opponents. Both became powerful shinobi, but in different ways.

"Naruto."

"What." he pouted.

"You have more chakra than Sasuke does."

He peered at her. "What's chakra?"

Tsunade closed her eyes tiredly. _Kami give me patience._ She gestured towards his stomach. "Energy. Chakra is energy that keeps us alive. Why do you think shinobi can do more than civilians?"

"Cause we are cooler?"

She decided to humour him. "And why are we cooler?"

"Because of chakra." Naruto answered.

"How? Civilians have it as well."

The blond frowned. Tsunade saw it as a good sign. All he had to do was learn to make connections. If the pranks he pulled were any proof, the gaki had potential.

He just needed a good shove in that potential.

"Ninja have more chakra than civilians." he grinned.

 _Not the answer I wanted but we are on the right path._

"Even ninja work to further expand their chakra, Naruto. Where is the difference?"

"We train and we use the chakra. Civilians don't even pay attention to it."

Tsunade nodded, satisfied. "Now imagine Sasuke's chakra is a puddle. Yours, is a sea." _An ocean even._

Naruto's eyes widened. "That much I have compared to teme?"

"Yes, and though his chakra will grow in time, it won't reach your level. Anyway, my point is that you don't get tired easily and your chakra is the reason. In an Academy spar it might not matter much, but in a real fight, less skilled people have won because they lasted more than the enemy."

His nose wrinkled. "Am I supposed to feel better?"

She looked at him incredulously. "People would kill to have your chakra. Of course you should." _The chakra, not the fox._ she mused.

The gaki's face broke into a grin. "Relax, Sakura-chan. I was kidding."

Tsunade bristled then smiled sadly. "Idiot." On days like this, Naruto reminded her too much of Jiraiya.

.

.

She heard the kunai before she saw it. A blade cutting through air made plenty of noise to experienced ears. Unfortunately, her legs did not have the speed they used to. She barely dodged it. Tsunade hissed, knowing there was now a shallow cut on her cheek. It'd heal, she would see to it as practice for her medical ninjutsu.

The one responsible revealed himself only to be instantly taken down by ANBU. Not killed, merely incapacitated. It proved her right. She had been watched this entire time.

 _For a good reason._ Tsunade thought as she touched her cheek and stared at the man whose silver hair defied gravity. Not that hers was any better. _Pink. Ha._ It still caused her headaches. She knew she should act more scared than this, cry a little perhaps but that was the one thing that she couldn't fake.

She died once. Death no longer fazed her.

Now her attacker had a seal firmly placed over his mouth and chains binding him to a tree. The man to do it summoned a small ninken. "Pakkun, alert Hokage-sama while I take Sakura-chan home."

"You got it." was the dog's response as it left.

Tsunade approached the shinobi with slow steps and thanked him. " You can't come with me though."

"Why?"

"ANBU nearby means danger, everyone knows." she touched her cheek again. "Kaa-san and tou-san will worry if they see you."

The last thing she needed was interdiction to go outside almost whenever she pleased. It'd hinder her progress, her secret training, everything.

"Someone else could come and finish what he started." he intoned.

Tsunade highly doubted it because who expected a five-year-old to fight and win? Or better yet, for her to have backup? However, she knew protocol was protocol and ANBU were to respect theirs religiously.

"Fine." she relented and made a show of puffing out her cheeks. "But don't let them see you."

Kakashi couldn't say he was surprised. In some ways, she acted childish. In others, far from it. _That's the struggle of child soldiers. Ever in the middle._ He wasn't good with children yet it seemed both Minato-sensei and Sandaime-sama liked to put him in charge of squirrels. Naruto, he had avoided.

Though now he had a strange feeling that somehow, Haruno Sakura won't leave his life quietly. If she even would.

True to his word, the ANBU agent wasn't present when Mebuki and Kizashi greeted her and demanded how she got the injury on her cheek. Tsunade mumbled something about "training" and how "it doesn't hurt" in passing before she faked a yawn and climbed upstairs.

Inside her room, she brought a hand to her face and willed the chakra to turn green. To her indignation, it was barely there. A fickle of what used to be the greatest healing chakra in The Elemental Nations. She gritted her teeth and didn't give up until the cut closed and no damage remained.

Next, she did the immature thing and screamed into a pillow. She wasn't proud of it but the alternative was punching a wall and have it break her fist. Once upon a time, the wall would have broken with nothing but the touch of a finger. Now it was the reverse and if that didn't warrant screams of frustration, Tsunade didn't what would.

 _You are five. Nobody has god-like powers at this age._ She reasoned as an attempt to keep a cool head. Then she cast the pillow aside. A bingo book is what she needed but it wasn't like she could stroll inside a shop and demand one. _They don't give those to genin, let alone to Academy brats._ She couldn't even pull a clan name as she had done so many times in the past to get her hands on all sorts of forbidden things.

Luckily, she knew someone who could.

.

.

Kakashi reported what happened that day to the Hokage. The man looked older with every shinobi that walked in and delivered news. The years that followed the Nine Tails' Attack hadn't been easy. One incident after another. If the war ended, why did it feel like they were still fighting one among themselves? Two years ago, the Hyuga had to sacrifice one of their own for the sake of maintaining peace with Kumogakure, conflicts and mistrust with the Uchiha were becoming more frequent as time passed, Danzo still ruled the shadows underneath The Hidden Leaf and Jiraiya-sama hadn't seen or heard of Orochimaru in months.

He never felt gladder for being a soldier than he did in that moment. He'd rather carry his fights on the field and leave the politics to someone more capable.

"How did the girl react?" Sarutobi asked after they spoke of the culprit, the one to send him, the punishments, and the warnings that were to be made so no such incident would occur again. Sakura was no longer in danger but whether she was a spy or just gifted was up for debate still.

"She dodged, though it was a close call. I saw the frustration written on her face. She didn't cry or fear and even approached me with a request which I respected." Kakashi paused. "Had she been born in a shinobi family, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." When a prodigy was born to one of the clans, Konoha cheered and reached out with its greedy hands.

"It's possible you saw your reflection today, Kakashi. You graduated at five. She has the potential to do the same from what Iruka tells me and her file speaks for itself but the matter of her upbringing remains." he sighed and pulled out another file, handing it to him. "Your observation of Haruno Sakura will have to wait. This mission is mandatory and I cannot give it to someone else."

The Copy Ninja took it, skimmed through, and nodded. "It seems I leave for Suna tomorrow." he couldn't help but ask though. "Who will take it from here while I'm away?"

As if she stood outside the door and waited for the right moment, Anko burst inside with a grin.

The Third Hokage hid a bemused smile. "I believe that answers your question."

"Hatake." She greeted, arching a brow. "Did my pink-haired protege impress you?"

He didn't have the patience for...anything that was Mitarashi Anko related. "Since when? You are to be her shadow, not her mentor. She might be a spy." he stressed out the last word.

She snorted. "You don't believe that any more than I do. The gaki has fire and protected one of our own. Spy my ass. She could be a distant Senju or Uzumaki for all we know. They went into hiding long ago, shit happened, family names changed..." Anko abruptly stopped and frowned. "Why am I explaining this to you? You are the genius."

Meanwhile Kakashi wondered whether he could teleport to Suna on the spot.


End file.
